Last days of summer - Brunching and Lunching in London

 

A few weeks ago now we visited a couple of friends in London, making the most of some of the last days of summer by spending a weekend with people we don't see often enough.

We wanted to stay away from the busy shopping streets, take in a bit of culture and (most importantly) catch up over brunch!

Beach bars and beers - eating and drinking in Spain

 

We spent pretty much every other day in Spain doing the same thing - in the best possible way.

After waking up at around 8:30 (which is a sleep in for us), we would get ready, walk down the huge hill towards the beach and along the front to a café where we could get granola and Greek yoghurt, freshly squeezed orange juice - and, most importantly, a decent coffee.

Spanish Summer Holidays : Beach breaks and bar hopping

Its been a couple of weeks now since we came back from Spain, but time seems to have flown by. I'd been so looking forward to a holiday full of doing nothing, recharging our batteries and enjoying week long sunshine. Although I definitely ate and drank to excess and by the time we got home I could have done with an extra day to just sleep!

We stayed in Mojacar which is in southern Spain, about 45 minutes to an hour from Almeria airport, though you can also fly in to Murcia or Malaga which is a bit further out. The father in law lives out there so we were lucky enough to be able to stay in his apartment, and well, just look at the view from the balcony.

Although as lovely as this walk was going down the hill towards the beach and the bars and restaurants, walking back up in 37 degree heat was HARD!

On the first day we arrived around lunchtime after a 3 am wake up call so we headed straight out for tapas up in the hills at a lovely little traditional tapas restaurant, washed down with a couple of beers (well, we were on holiday).

And a view of the tiny chapel across the road. So small you would only be able to squeeze about 2 people in at a time.

After a dip in the pool and a nap we got ready to go out for the evening, slightly later than planned and ended up in a fairly average restaurant, but it did set us up for the evening which we spent watching a live band and drinking gin before wandering back along the beach and up that very steep hill to the apartment for an early(ish) night.

Even the night times are beautiful when you're near the ocean.

The Art of Packing Light : How to pack with just hand luggage

I don't know about you, but I LOVE holidays, and just to make it even better the run up to holidays usually involves 2 of my other favourite things - organising and shopping.

Just to satisfy my travel cravings I try to fit in  a couple of shorter haul breaks a year and as I'm not the greatest flyer - although a couple of bellinis in the airport helps - I like a short hop skip and a jump to another country without the 10+ hour travel time. This summer we've set our sights on a couple of sojourns - one beach holiday and one city break - but with the same question... how to pack for a holiday with only hand luggage?